Chapter 144: Twisted Love 2
Chapter 144: Twisted Love 2
Maybe it was because the academy had gathered talent from across the continents.
The speed of the administrative work was far faster than I had imagined.
A confinement room was prepared, half-prisoner status, to watch over the murderer.
A new security team was formed to guard that confinement room.
A research team was also created to study the magical link between an Incarnation and a Constellation.
All of this happened in barely half a day.
They sure work fast.
Was it because the matter involved a Constellation?
The organizational chart was clearly divided, like a government office.
Reports had to climb from the bottom all the way to the top, to the academy chancellor.
Yet that drawn-out bureaucratic process wrapped up in half a day.
Which left me with nothing to do.
Lee Ha-rin was handling the research, and Han Ye-ji was on guard duty.
All that remained for me was wandering the infirmary and radiating magic at the patient.
So, with time on my hands and the sense that I should offer some encouragement, I called Han Ye-ji to my quarters.
Lately I had been a little neglectful of the others because of Kim Ha-eun.
Y-you called for me, Constellation?
Maybe it was because I was usually the one who went to her.
She crept into my quarters—a place she had visited a few times before—warily, one step at a time.
Yeah, come here and sit down.
I patted the long sofa twice.
A stiffly frozen body. Arms and legs moving with awkward rigidity.
She was no borrowed cat, but the change of setting alone made her turn shy. It was nothing short of adorable.
When she sat beside me, our forearms touched.
Was even that narrow point of contact, that faint body heat, a shock to her system?
Han Ye-ji's silent face flushed crimson.
Under normal circumstances, there would have been plenty to talk about.
How was academy life? Was there so little work that she needed to form a guard team?
Had she been parked in the shooting range all day and racked up a good score?
Was she not worried about the younger brother she had left alone on the Eastern Continent? And so on.
But those conversation starters slipped right back down my throat.
Why?
So, um...
Because watching Han Ye-ji try to carry the conversation in this awkward silence was adorable.
This was the girl who had shuttled between school and her convenience-store job. If I had to categorize her, she was an introvert among introverts—a total outsider.
Aside from the teammates who had reached out first because they were on the same squad, she did not seem to have close friends or anyone she really talked to. That alone said plenty.
Honestly, once you became an Incarnation, people usually made a huge fuss over you, but aside from that one girl in the same school uniform at the convenience store who had shrieked with excitement, I hadn't seen anyone reach out to her about it.
When I had told her to treat herself with her first paycheck, she had bought a tiny bag of overpriced potato chips. Her hobby was watching internet broadcasts. Spending money mostly meant buying slightly pricey food to eat. That was Han Ye-ji—introverted homebody, game-loving shut-in.
Invited to a man's room and trying to steer the conversation?
That was probably harder than any game she had ever played.
Even without reading her emotions, the restless wandering of her eyes proved it.
Uh, speaking of which, Constellation. Yesterday, right—
Having steeled herself, she barely managed to open her mouth.
I turned my head and stared directly at her, signaling her to continue.
Close enough that our shoulders and forearms pressed together.
Naturally, her soft cheek hovered right before my nose.
Could she feel my shallow breath drifting toward her cheek and collarbone?
Like a broken radio, Han Ye-ji's words sputtered to a halt.
This is fun.
Her pale nape twitched, like a malfunctioning fan.
Was she agonizing over whether to stare straight ahead since we were sitting side by side, or to turn and face me?
If she faced forward, I would be playing tricks just outside her field of vision. If she faced me, our breaths would practically mingle. Obvious embarrassment.
In dreams, Han Ye-ji let herself be swept away by her desires, but in reality, she was far more easily flustered than I had expected.
Lee Ha-rin and Kim Ha-eun treated me the same whether in dream or reality. But Han Ye-ji drew a stricter line between the two than I had imagined.
The lucid dream was a space to lean on me, her Constellation, and let her desires spill free. Reality, on the other hand, was a space for obedience and executing orders. Something along those lines.
So, what happened yesterday?
I leaned forward just a little and spoke.
Sure, she was a marksmanship specialist, but an Incarnation's body was more sensitive than a civilian's. That had to be why she picked up on even a breath too weak to flutter a single tissue.
Yesterday, at the range...
She took a deep breath and tried again, but once again stopped after a few words.
The cause was obvious: me.
Because I had casually stretched out my hand and laid it on her thigh.
She was wearing knee-length shorts that prioritized mobility and a short-sleeved dress shirt. It felt like she had paid attention to ventilation—the fabric was a bit thin, which made it pleasant to trace with my fingertips, slowly, stealthily.
Not as good as touching bare skin, but the firm thigh I could feel through that thin layer of cloth was appealing in its own right.
At the range, I—I set a higher record than before.
Oh? Your score was already pretty high.
Having adapted to my toying hand, she kept talking.
Well, it was not as if she had a communication disorder. There was no way a single poke of a finger would seal her lips completely. If it had been that bad, she would have died of a heart attack the moment we embraced in a lucid dream.
what I wanted to see was her flustered face—not her calmly carrying on a conversation.
In that case, you will need a reward, won't you?
A r-reward?
That's right. When an Incarnation achieves results, it is only natural for her Constellation to take care of her, is it not?
Slowly, carefully, I moved my fingers.
A nursery-rhyme-like tune from childhood drifted through my head. The itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the water spout—or something like that.
I crossed my fingers like spider legs and crept them along—tap, tap.
From her thigh, away from the knee.
Toward a woman's secret place.
Th-that is true.
Maybe it was nerves, because formal speech popped out of her reddening face. The usual adorably scatterbrained girl would have given a lighthearted reply like, "Yeah, right?" But tangled up in this lurid atmosphere, shoulders pressed together, my hand toying with her, she had started answering like a raw recruit standing at attention before a grizzled sergeant.
What kind of reward would be good, then?
Do I—do I get to c-choose?
My fingers, having climbed her thigh, made their way to her waistband. Even thin shorts covered her skin. I flipped open the lightly fastened buckle at her waist with my fingertip.
A soft pop as the shorts' buckle opened.
And through that small gap, gray underwear.
Weren't the most erotic panties supposed to be gray ones where the dampness shows through? I recalled some dirty joke I had heard in my past life and kept my fingers moving. Past the newly opened buckle, pressing firmly above the elastic of her panties.
She supposedly had faint eleven-line abs, but Han Ye-ji was no close-quarters fighter—she was a sniper. So it was only natural that pressing a finger into the area below her navel met a soft, yielding texture. I kneaded that plushness, then skimmed over it with my fingers.
Yeah. What kind of reward would you like?
She would be tongue-tied, too embarrassed to answer. I figured I would just play around a bit and then go with the flow. That was what I was thinking as I enjoyed the softness at my fingertips.
Until Han Ye-ji, who had swallowed hard, blurted out quickly—
C-Constellation, if you could... use your hands... to, to do it for me.
Had she summoned the courage of a lifetime?
I was genuinely a little shocked that my prediction had missed the mark.
Outside of the unconscious roleplay we did, she had never asked for anything first. I was not sure if this qualified as growth, but either way, Han Ye-ji had finally taken a step forward.
Hands?
Ah-uh, y-yes, yesss...
Maybe she was mortified to have voiced her own desire out loud. I could feel the regret welling up in her, tears beading in her eyes. She had ridden a surge of momentum to say it, only to be hit by a wave of humiliation.
Not that it mattered—I could roughly understand why she had answered that way.
To begin with, as a Dream Demon Constellation, magic power itself was what I used to interfere with my Incarnations' bodies. The moment we embraced, kissed, and skin met skin, foreplay became unnecessary.
But then again, would human desire ever be that tame and well-behaved?
Is it not human to want to be caressed by hand, by mouth—paizuri, fellatio, handjobs, and so on? Why else would all those porn tags be so popular?
Sure. Like this?
Wah—aah!
I stretched out both arms and lifted her onto my lap.
This would have looked a bit odd in my elf form, but lucky for me I was still in that massive muscle-man's body. One arm wrapped around her narrow waist, and I felt her pulse hammering through her whole body.
Her heart pounded as if it really might explode.
While that was going on, I reached my other hand inside her shorts, to stroke the thin, unquestionably damp fabric beyond.
Schlick—
A soft, obscene sound. Quiet enough to barely be heard—just loud enough for a Constellation and Incarnation to catch.
Her heartbeat hammered faster, like an overheating engine.
In that case, today let us try doing exactly what you want—
Sticky, slick panties tangled around my fingertips. And beyond them, hot, twitching flesh.
......
No answer came. Just a shy girl giving a small nod, her hair swaying slightly and revealing her pale nape.
I bowed my head and latched my lips onto that fair nape, sucking hard. At the same time, my fingers pressed into the plump flesh, sliding slowly, tormenting her deliberately.
While I teased inside her shorts and over her panties at will, I felt the muscles in her firm ass clench tight atop my lap.
The sun was just beginning to set.